NCAFC members and supporters have submitted the following emergency motion to the 3 December NUS National Executive Council meeting in Liverpool, follwing the success of our free education demo.

In the aftermath of the appalling move by the NUS leadership to withdraw support in the run-up to the demonstration (despite a democratic mandate from the NEC), we demand that our national union reinstates its support for a meaningful campaign for free education. A meaningful campaign – a campaign that can win – must embrace protest and direct action, such as the days of action that NCAFC has called on 3 and 6 December. It must respond firmly against violence and repression inflicted on student protesters by police. And it must hold to account both the Coalition government and Labour for their failures on the question of education funding.

We are calling on the NUS National Executive to pass this motion and commit to the fight.

EMERGENCY MOTION: RESPONSE TO 19 NOVEMBER DEMONSTRATION

NUS NEC notes

1. The big turn out, positive vibe and impact of the 19 November free education demonstration.
2. The violence and repression police once again handed out to student protesters, including arrests, assaults by the cops and one student from Goldsmiths who was badly beaten and had to go to hospital immediately after his release.
3. That the government has responded to the demo by saying that it has no intention of abolishing fees, and that free education is incompatible with well-funded universities; while the Labour Party has not responded at all.
4. That the racists of UKIP demagogically “expressed support” for the demo, while also condemning alleged student violence.

NUS NEC believes

1. That the thousands of students who worked to make the demonstration a success should be congratulated.
2. That it is vital that NUS speaks out, firstly, to condemn the police response and secondly to challenge the government and Labour on the question of education funding.

NUS NEC resolves

1. To reaffirm our support for free education.
2. To issue a statement condemning the police violence on the demo, and replying to the government’s claims (we want a free, well-resourced education system, in both FE and HE, and other services funded by taking wealth from the rich).
3. To include a call on Labour to adopt free education as its policy.
4. To support and promote the upcoming 3 and 6 December days of action.

VICE’s TV production arm VBS.tv have put together a new film about the student protests entitled Teenage Riot. In the film VBS followed the progress of the largest period of civil unrest in England since the 80s, available in 5 parts all this week, the full length film will be available next week at VBS.tv. Check it out here

The 32 month custodial sentence given to Edward Woollard in the Millbank protests is an outrage.

It will not only see Woollard spend the rest of his teenage years behind bars, but is a politically motivated attack on the entire student and anti-cuts movement.

Woollard handed himself in to the police, had never been in trouble with the authorities before, pleaded guilty to the offence, and had 30 statements of good character. He made a terrible mistake in throwing the fire extinguisher off the roof of Millbank tower, but the judgement handed down to him is not about his individual action. In truth, it is about the courts sending a message to wider society that the state will not tolerate resistance to the biggest attack on working people we have seen in living memory.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC was quite clear that this was a “deterrent sentence” designed to send out “a a very clear message to anyone minded to behave in this way that an offence of this seriousness will not be tolerated”. Woollard was simply not judged on his individual actions which thankfully led to no injuries. Far more serious acts of violent disorder routinely receive shorter sentences.

We the undersigned will campaign vigorously for the rights of all arrested protesters.

We recognise the biggest criminals of all are those wielding the axe to our public services.

A broad and powerful protest movement is now taking shape on the streets and in the workplaces.

We will not be intimidated by draconian sentences or any form of police repression.

If you would like to support the statement, join this facebook group or email againstfeesandcuts [at] gmail.com

Simon Hardy, National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, and Aaron Porter, National Union of Students, have given witness of police infringement of human rights on the last student demonstrations.

On the table was particularly the “kettling” technique and overall police violence.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights consists of twelve members appointed from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Committee is charged with considering human rights issues in the UK.

The Committee undertakes thematic inquiries on human rights issues and reports its findings and recommendations to the House. It scrutinises all Government Bills and picks out those with significant human rights implications for further examination.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), chaired by Andrew Dismore MP, consists of Members of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Thematic Inquiries

As part of its work, the Committee undertakes inquiries into human rights issues during which it seeks evidence from a wide range of groups and individuals with relevant interests and experience. Initially the Committee calls for written evidence from interested parties, which is usually followed by taking oral evidence from a selection of those who submitted written evidence.

A report is usually then produced setting out the Committee’s findings and making recommendations to the Government.

Everyone at NCAFC is really happy about how much is going on and the amazing response we get from people all across the country. We are constantly bombarded with questions and affiliations and people wanting to organise local events.

As we understand that for some a quick supportive reply might suffice to get NCAFC’s support, it needs to be said that things are not that quick & easy.

There have been some “fake” NCAFC events going around Facebook and being Twittered about so here are our guidelines:

HOW TO KNOW IF IT IS A REAL NCAFC EVENT?

If an event is supported by NCAFC it will be announced on the website.

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HOW TO GET NCAFC TO BACK YOUR EVENTS?

Send us an email to [email protected] with your personal information (name and university/school/city) and a brief description of the event (type of event/date/location).

We will discuss it and vote it through in a local or national NCAFC meeting, which will be open for you and anyone else to come along and pitch in.

We will keep in touch with you until the big day (Note: the bigger the event, the more involved we will get with details such as security, materials, stewards, etc)

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We hope this helps.

Don’t put yourself in danger – only attend events you know the organising body of. If in doubt contact organisers and ask them to explain what security measures have been taken. It is bad enough that the police is violent even after we meet with them, imagine how they can get if they know nothing about the demo you are thinking of attending.

The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts utterly condemns the violence inflicted on demonstrators by the police on the 9th of December national demonstration in central London and reiterate that the passing of the bill on the tuition fee increase will not deter, nor discourage future actions.

The coalition government managed to pass the tuition fee increase by 21 votes only – a sign of how weakthe government is and that it can be beaten. Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, suffered a huge blow to his leadership policies as 21 of his MPs rebelled against the tuition fee increase.

The resistance will continue in the new year. The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, as well as thousands of students across the country, will not give in until these cuts and fee increases are stopped.

Mounted police charging and ‘kettling’ of protesters are disgusting attacks on people’s right to protest and cannot be justified. The demonstration was militant but good natured as thousands assembled in Parliament square. The police adopted a hands-off approach until around 15.30h when ‘kettling’ began, followed by increasingly violent assaults on students.

The police attacked protesters, journalists and even a demonstrator in a wheel chair, dragging him across the ground. Many people were hospitalised and at the time of writing (23.30h) many people were still contained in Westminster, a cruel form of collective punishment for defying the government.

Tens of thousands of students demonstrated, despite low temperatures all across Britain on the 30th of November against the tuition fee increase, the cuts to EMA and wider public sector cuts.

Students were joined by teachers, parents and general members of the public as the movement continued to broaden out, bringing in new people who want to join the fight against this government’s agenda.

Protesters have not been deterred by images of ‘violence’ in the media.

Protesters have not been put off by the ‘kettling’ of the 24th of November.

Protesters did not stay at home as a result of snow and the cold weather.

The movement continues to gain more support and gathers momentum – building up to the tuition fee vote in Parliament in mid December.

More national protests will take place on 9th and 11th December, as well as several local actions on the weekend of the 4th and 5th of December.

On the day that Parliament votes on the tuition fee increase the NCAFC will be working with other organisations to bring the greatest number of people possible down to London. We expect over 100,000 people to demonstrate in London, and many thousands more across the country.

The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts is happy that most actions were taken non-violently and were able to truly show that students will not stand still and let the government take these savage cuts imperviously.

The NCAFC will continue to organise students and plan future actions in order to defeat this constrictive governmental education agenda and, if necessary, bring down the government, itself.

Thank you once more to The Guardian for their incredible coverage and support.